Sometimes serious. Sometimes humorous. Always unpredictable. By Dan Pimentel - Welcome to the Airplanista Aviation Blog, where I take a lighthearted look at general and business aviation, the airlines, and the incredible and generous community of aviators called #Avgeeks...they are my aviation family. I am currently available for magazine and corporate writing assignments - Email me here.

2:24 PM

Do you know theway to Cupertino?

A software crash of the main FAA radar in the New York region today caused a ground hold on all planes at all area airports, creating delays throughout the day, according to officials.

So you’d think that with such a major center controlling so many planes at one time, they’d have redundant systems. Makes sense, but wait, this is our Federal government at work:

The FAA switched over to backup system, called Dark Dark, which took nearly 30 minutes to become operational.

Huh?

During that time, all flights were delayed from taking off in New York airports, as were all flights destined to New York airports. Air commuters are now being told to expect delays traveling in and out of all three regional airports for the rest of the day. All flights that were destined for the New York region were subjected to a ground hold at their airport of origin during the software crash, delaying their departure at least 30 minutes. Incoming high altitude flights were spaced out to 15 miles apart to give pilots more room, meaning they will land later than expected.

So as a Mac user, I have to wonder what operating system and software this vital ATC center is using, hmmm? This may explain why there are great big CONTROL ALT DELETE buttons on ATC panels in the FAA system. (O.K., that part is pure hooey, but I couldn't resist)